Downplays Prospect of Israeli Attack

Speaking to media today during a visit to Tunisia, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta sought to downplay the possibility of a unilateral Israeli attack on Iran in the near term, saying that he didn’t think Israel had decided to launch any attacks yet.

Rather, Panetta insisted that Israel was “united” with the US on a current policy goal of seeing more sanctions imposed on Iran to “bring pressure” against them for refusing to abandon their civilian nuclear program.

Panetta, who will be visiting Israel on Tuesday, promised to see major new anti-Iran sanctions in the next few weeks, saying that they will be “a whole new level of impact” and will prove to Iran the need to back down.

Panetta’s visit will come amid speculation that the US tried to placate Israel and convince them to back sanctions instead of immediate war by providing them with full details of a US plan to attack Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denied that such a meeting took place.

314329 Responseshttp%3A%2F%2Fnews.antiwar.com%2F2012%2F07%2F29%2Fpanetta-us-israel-united-in-favor-of-more-iran-sanctions%2FPanetta%3A+US%2C+Israel+United+in+Favor+of+More+Iran+Sanctions2012-07-30+01%3A44%3A06Jason+Ditzhttp%3A%2F%2Fnews.antiwar.com%2F%3Fp%3D31432 to “Panetta: US, Israel United in Favor of More Iran Sanctions”

"TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Syrian President Bashar Assad's use of helicopter gunships to counter a civil uprising will prove to be "a nail in Assad's coffin," U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Sunday at the outset of a five-day Mideast tour. Panetta said it is increasingly clear that the Syrian crisis is deepening and that Assad is hastening his own demise. "If they continue this kind of tragic attack on their own people … I think it ultimately will be a nail in Assad's coffin," Panetta told reporters traveling with him from Washington. "His regime is coming to an end.”

This man is looking for US new military base promising the islamists anything and everything even lies not mentioning the fact that in USA the brutal system killing its own people at home by making them homeless, by not being able to create jobs nor being able to help in such economic times when people struggling just to exist. Panetta needs to look at US militarism regime and it's killing records of innocent people for last 60 years.., from Korea to Vietnam to Yugoslavia and then Iraq and in Afghanistan and other places around the world before accusing any other regime of brutality, this man needs to look at who the US government is cooperating with, the Saudis the UAE and other feudalism, totalitarians, tyrants and dictatorial regime before accusing anyone of being brutal, this man needs to look at the US, the EU and English historical record perpetrating themselves as democrat or democracy yet falsifying the notion by not respecting its principals. Everyone, even this man can say that they are democrat, but in practical terms they are as same as George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Divid Cameron or not that much Angel Markell of Germany or for that matter the Swedish liberal fascisms are liberal or democrats.

There is no democracy in US, the basics of such matter is a dying matter and this man knows why he is in Tunis, he is there to celebrate the islamism, the ones that attacked US and now US is helping them to establish yet another Islamic government in Middle east, using peoples religious to divide and conquer by wanting to establish a militarism base in Tunis and elsewhere in Africa. US and EU governments are after militarization of the world and looking forward to a total third world war.

Syria is not Iraq or Libya or Afghanistan. If they fail and they will fail it could mark the beginning of the end to their M.E. project and the shi*tylittlestate as we know it now. The stakes are so high, just look at Russia and China.

World has to – and at the end it will happened – confront this "most embarising and tragig mistake UN made in 1946". Noble idea for victims for WW2 went so horribly, horribly wrong …and sad irony is, that the bunch of people wraped in aggressive, colonial, destructive ideology has created even more victims and more horrors of wars and crimes against humnity in ME and there is not any sign they will ever stop….Israel marks "the most destructive time and moment" in history of Mankind and even if present leaders know this fact and countless numbers of brave people of influence / writers, scollars, historience and everyday informed people in 4 corners/ willingly risk they future, health and lives by reveling this dangerous regime crime policy – destructive regime just ignores basic Internacional norms, laws and goes on the way to global Armagedon….towards "conflict of unseen proportions and destruction".
How those marking may coment as "bad" can expect future aggression against sovereign state of Iran be just "only"!! another Irag? Massacre of Gaza in 2008/09 and use of White Phospor against cilivians shows clearly that Iran mass destruction will expose "Visible Satanic Hand at Work"…..mankind is really on crossroad. There is no doubt, that Israels WMD will play decisive role in "last Zionist aggression" against Humanity…..peter czech

Panetta didn't win any friends in Tunisia by declaring that the US and Israel are "united" in their strategy toward Iran. In the Arab world any country that shows an affinity towards Israel will not be viewed sympathetically.

THe POeople in the U.S. are TIRED of war. One war after another! ANd for what?

For the defense of israel? What's israel? A two-bit shitty country that keeps knifing it's neighbors! israel the hoodlum of the Mideast- then our kids in the U.S. have to go there to defend the hoodlum!